The present invention relates to the field of vehicle devices, and, more particularly, to a tracking and alerting system for a vehicle.
Motor vehicles, such as passenger cars, trucks, busses, fleet vehicles, etc. are widely used and knowing the locations of such vehicles is often desired. For example, should a vehicle be stolen, it would be beneficial to know the vehicle""s location so that authorities could be promptly and accurately directed to retrieve the vehicle. Indeed, the tracking system could plot the getaway path of the thief.
For a company with hired drivers, it may be desirable to know the driver""s whereabouts during the course of the day. Similarly, a rental car agency or other fleet operator, for example, may wish to know the whereabouts of its fleet of vehicles.
It may also be desirable to track the location of a vehicle as it is used throughout the course of a normal day. For parents of younger or older drivers, for example, knowledge of the vehicle""s location may provide some assurance that the driver is at designated locations and following a prescribed route.
A number of patents disclose various systems and approaches to tracking vehicles. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,844 discloses a tracking system including a control center and a mobile unit installed in the vehicle. The mobile unit may send security warnings to the command center via a wireless transceiver. Position information for the vehicle is determined using a GPS receiver at the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,043 discloses a similar system which may send one or more preprogrammed telephone messages to a user when away from the vehicle. The user may remotely access location information or cause certain commands to be carried out by entering a personal identification number (PIN).
The widespread availability and use of the Internet has prompted a number of vehicle tracking systems to also make use of the Internet. For example, TelEvoke, Inc. proposed such a system in combination with Clifford Electronics. The system was to provide notification, control and tracking services via the telephone or the Internet. Users could be notified via phone, e-mail, or pager of events such as a car alarm being triggered. Users could control the vehicle remote devices via phone, web, or PDA such as unlocking car doors. Additionally, users could track TelEvoke-enabled vehicles on the Internet or via the telephone. An Internet map could be viewed by the user showing the actual and prior vehicle locations. TelEvoke offered its services via a centralized fully automated Network Operations Center. To reduce the communications costs, it was proposed to use the control channel of the cellular telephone network.
Many conventional vehicle tracking units include many input and output connections. Accordingly, such units may be difficult to install in a vehicle. This is especially so since the space available to access and connect to vehicle wires is likely to be restricted. Accordingly, errors in the initial installation may occur. Accurate diagnosis of any such errors may be time consuming and add further to the installation costs.
Maintenance of an installed system may also be complicated if each connection must be individually checked and rechecked. Furthermore, if a vehicle tracking unit is to be used for controlling other vehicle devices (e.g., door lock actuators or window lock actuators), different devices may be actuated based upon different polarities. This may further complicate installation and require that the vehicle tracking unit have numerous outputs of different polarity types.
In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle tracking unit which includes one or more switchable polarity output terminals to provide for more ready installation thereof and compatibility with other vehicle devices.
This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with the present invention are provided by a vehicle tracking unit for a vehicle of a type including at least one vehicle device. The vehicle tracking unit may include a vehicle position determining device, a wireless communications device, and a controller cooperating with the wireless communications device and the vehicle position determining device to determine and send vehicle position information to a monitoring station. Furthermore, the controller may include at least one pair of switchable polarity output terminals for the at least one vehicle device.
Accordingly, a single pair of the switchable polarity output terminals may advantageously be used to control vehicle devices that are actuated based upon both positive and negative polarities. For example, the switchable polarity output terminals may be used for controlling vehicle devices which include both negatively and positively controlled actuator motors. Accordingly, the vehicle tracking unit of the present invention may require less output terminal circuitry than in prior art vehicle tracking units and potentially reduce installation difficulty by reducing the amount of wires that have to be connected to various vehicle devices.
More particularly, the controller may switch the at least one pair of switchable polarity output terminals based upon a command received by the wireless communications device. Further, the controller may also include a memory for storing the vehicle position information therein. The controller may download the vehicle position information from the memory to the monitoring station based upon at least one of a predetermined schedule, a predetermined event, and the memory reaching a predetermined capacity.
The at least one vehicle device may include a pair of input terminals each to be connected to one of the at least one pair of output terminals. In certain embodiments the controller may advantageously detect respective operating polarities of the pair of input terminals. Thus, the controller may switch the at least one pair of output terminals based upon the detected operating polarities of the pair of input terminals.
By way of example, the vehicle position determining device may be a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, and the wireless communications device may be a cellular telephone communications device. Also, the at least one vehicle device may include a door lock actuator for performing at least one of a door locking and unlocking function, and/or a window actuator for performing at least one of a roll up and a roll down function, for example.
In addition, the controller may activate the at least one pair of switchable polarity output terminals substantially simultaneously and with opposite polarities thereon. The controller may also activate the at least one pair of switchable polarity output terminals for a predetermined period. Accordingly, the present invention is particularly well suited for use with dual motor door lock actuators and window actuators, for example, as noted above.
A method aspect of the invention is for operating a vehicle device using a vehicle tracking unit, such as the one briefly described above. The method may include providing at least one pair of switchable polarity output terminals at the vehicle tracking unit for the at least one vehicle device, and selectively switching the at least one pair of switchable output terminals to operate the vehicle device.